Paranoia Prima
by Queen Luana
Summary: Dr. Elizabeth Greys, head of the psychiatric department aboard the Ishimura, watches the power of the Marker during the final days of the personnel. Parallel to Downfall. Rated M for gore, language and adult themes.


**Queen Luana : **I am now seriously into Dead Space so I'll be writing a fanfic about it. People that are familiar with my writing style will probably find it no surprise that once again I'll be working with an OC as main character. The actual characters from the video game and movie will appear occasionally, but do not expect that I'll be spending too much time on them. Meet Elizabeth Greys. Hate her or love her.

* * *

"Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are…"

The lullaby continued repeating itself endlessly over the intercom, even though most other sounds had died. I percept a faint dripping noise, somewhere in one of the other rooms. Numbly I kept rocking back and forth, whispering the words as soft gasps of breath. My cheek pressed against hers and my arms were locked around her chest. Above me I heard scratching and thumping: the ghastly sounds of creatures moving through the vents.

"It'll be ok," I muttered to her. "It'll all be ok now."

ONE WEEK EARLIER…

From the first day that we hauled the Marker aboard the USG Ishimura, the crew had gotten restless and anxious. The perceptive among us would notice how certain members got jittery and grumpy, even after only a few hours. It was not that anyone was particularly against it being aboard. It's just that no one had really wanted it to happen either. And many of us felt how some weird power was driving our captain to make irrational decisions.

The captain, being a man with many years of experience, of course was not oblivious to the ill-humoured murmurs spreading amongst his employees. So that first fateful night he decided to hold a reception for most of the crew to supposedly celebrate the tremendous progress we had made these past few weeks. It was us being naïve, I guess, that we agreed to this so willingly. Or maybe it was the power of the Marker, that had begun to corrupt our minds from the very start.

I was one of the people attending the reception with suspicion. Sure I'd drink the wine and enjoy the conversations with my fellow members of the medical staff that were not on duty at that very moment. But I was cautious and very aware of what else was happening on the ship. Dr. Kyne had eagerly suggested that he investigated the Marker. A bit too eager, I would say. He hadn't been his usual self ever since we found the darn thing. Then again, I'd never very much liked Kyne to begin with.

I had been working aboard Ishimura for a little over three years now and had won the respect of most people working below me. Sure enough every now and then I would be given a disdainful look by some arrogant newbie American who had a problem with my British accent but they'd all learn their place soon enough.

I was sipping my martini when I was tapped on the shoulder.

"Dr. Greys."

I turned my head sideways to see a colleague. One who was supposed to be on duty this evening.

"We have a situation."

I blinked, at that point still unaware of the horrors the Marker possessed. "What kind of situation?"

* * *

"Albert Rutterschmidt." I got his file while pacing down the corridors of the medical wing. "I know him. One of the security members…"

"Two of his buddies found him in the restroom. He was trying to smash his own head against a wall."

"You're not making any sense," I muttered. "He's a nice guy. Always bragging about his son's baseball games."

"Well, see for yourself."

A door swung open as I had entered my password and lead me into the operating theatre. There indeed laid Albert, strapped down on a bed, struggling to get loose. His face was one bloody mess. Two doctors were looking in through a window and taking notes and clearly looked relieved when I walked in.

"Hello Albert," I said calmly and threw of my vest. "What happened?" Neko, one of the newer members of the medical staff had trotted in behind me and picked up my vest from the floor, then pressed herself up against a wall. She was clearly shocked by the scene.

She had only arrived a few months earlier and would be a floater up until the point where there was a position among the medical staff she was qualified for. But until then they had her run errands and do the stuff no one else wanted to do. It was a miserable existence. I was lucky to have been offered a job before I had even considered working aboard the Ishimura.

"Let me go!" Albert cried, half realising I had even entered the room and addressed him just now.

"Albert," I said and reached for my penlight. "I'm gonna need you to stay calm, all right?" I held his one eye open and checked it. It was bloodshot.

"You're one of them!" Nothing he said was structural or making any sense.

"Subject is suffering from hallucination and severe paranoia. Bloodshot eyes indicate possible insomnia."

"Schizofrenia?" someone suggested but I shook my head.

"Wasn't in his medical files. And we would've had some indication during his monthly check-up. I would've noticed." I tucked away the penlight. "I wanna take a CAT-scan. See if there's any physical indication of what's happening to him. Neko."

The girl gulped.

"Call an anaesthetist."

She nodded and with my vest still clutched to her chest she pressed the intercom button and with quivering voice requested that an anaesthetist was sent over straight away.

When the man with the sedatives arrived and hooked Albert up to the catheter I wandered over to the table on which they had placed most of Albert's belongings. His belt, shoes, wallet, badge and gun. I ran an index finger over the weapon. He was bashing his head against a wall when he could've easily just shot himself? He was more destructive than suicidal.

I heard a shriek behind me followed by a howl of pain and spun around, saw how Albert had somehow freed himself, grabbed the anaesthetist's head and dug his thumbs into his eye sockets. Neko screamed and all that noise was seconds later drowned out by the deafening quarantine alert that had been sounded by one of the doctors.

Albert sprang to his feet and slammed his victim's head against the table three times, three blood-curdling times. Neko sank down against the wall, shaking, while behind the window the two doctors were arguing on lifting the alert to let both Neko and me out, in the meantime running the risk of letting Albert escape as well. He had started crying now with his hands feverishly going through his hair.

I straightened and put my hands on my hips. "Albert."

Neko pulled her legs up to her chest.

"Albert. Look at me." I took another deep breath. "Breathe, Albert. And try to compose yourself."

He finally looked at me.

"Good. We'll work this out no matter how long it takes."

"You don't understand. It's coming for us all. You, dr. Greys, are just as corrupted as I am. You just haven't realized yet."

"Realized what yet, Albert?"

He stared down at his hands. "We will all be infected and destroyed."

I nodded. "Ok."

The alarm still sounding was the only noise left. Everyone was looking at him now.

"Albert," I said and paced along the side of the room, "I'm gonna help Neko up and let her leave. After that we can sit down and talk, as long as you want." I motioned the doctors to lift the alarm so the door would unlock. I reached Neko and helped her to her feet.

"Talking won't matter, doctor," he said. "Not when you yourself are being puppeteered."

I looked over my shoulder at him and then spotted the gun on the table.

He leapt over the surgical table and before I had even made an attempt to reach the gun he was already holding it and pressing the barrel against his temple.

"AL-"

Blood splattered everywhere when he pulled the trigger. It smeared across the walls and floor and he fell to the ground in a bloody heap.

Neko gasped and pressed her hands against her mouth.

I sighed. "Patient's name is Albert Rutterschmidt. Time of passing..." I checked my wrist. "20.49. Greenwich Mean Time. Confirmed by doctor Elizabeth Greys. I want a blood sample and have it sent to the lab. Have it checked for any kind of chemical imbalance or the presence of medication. Neko, you writing this down?"

She snapped to reality. "Yeah, I… I got it…"

"Contact the morgue. When you're done with that you go to the party, have some fun, and when you feel better you contact the families. If they ask questions, answer them to the best of your ability and else you give them my number. Okay?"

I squeezed her shoulder and she nodded, and then glanced at the bodies. "H-How can you stay so calm?"

I smiled. "Nerves of steel and a lot of experience."

"Nerves of steel, huh?" She cleared her throat and gave me back my crumpled up vest. "Wish I did."

I left and when pacing down the emergency ward I turned into the restrooms. They were empty. Everyone was still at the party enjoying their own ignorance. I sighed and let some water run down my wrists and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was still neatly pinned back in a tight ponytail and every streak of make-up was where it should be. The layer of foundation had neatly covered my pale complexion.

I grabbed the edge of the sink and vomited a seemingly endless stream of clear martini.

* * *

**Queen Luana:** Ok, my first chapters are always short. The next one will probably be slightly longer.


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